Embodiments described herein relate generally to outdoor wood decking boards for use in the construction of an outdoor deck floor, the outdoor wood decking board constructed in a layered arrangement with a wood core having a facing wood veneer layered upon a first wood face of the wood core, the facing wood veneer manufactured with a superior grade wood species or select grade wood species visible to a user so that the wood core having an appearance of the facing wood veneer, thereby, the outdoor wood decking board is aesthetically pleasing to the viewer, user, homeowner, consumer. In another embodiment, an outdoor wood decking boards includes a second facing wood veneer of high grade wood species is layered upon a second face of the wood core, the second high-grade wood veneer visible to the viewer, user, homeowner, consumer from underneath the outdoor deck floor so that the wood core having an appearance of the second facing wood veneer forms a ceiling to an area beneath the outdoor wood decking boards of the newly formed outdoor deck floor.
In another embodiment, the facing wood veneer characterized as being free of cracks, holes, cavities or knots is formed from an exotic hardwood species.
In another embodiment, the wood core is formed from an engineered wood product, namely, wood plastic composite. In yet another embodiment, a core is formed from a concrete board.
In the construction of outdoor deck floors, it is often desirable to utilize a plurality of outdoor wood decking boards made from a superior grade wood species of a single solid board of wood, such as a clear grade vertical grain western red cedar. The outdoor deck floor made from single solid board of wood of a plurality of outdoor wood decking boards made from the superior grade wood species can exhaust the natural resources of the wood species in a particular geographical area and can be very expensive. It is not uncommon for construction wood materials to increase exponentially in cost for every increase in use of high grade woods, increase in length or width of the construction wood materials for use in the construction of the outdoor deck floor.
Another disadvantage of using a single solid board of is that if the consumer wants a natural or stained finish differences in the surface appearance or quality of the outdoor wood decking boards often occur. Because large quantities of outdoor wood decking boards are required to construct the outdoor deck floor, outdoor wood decking boards produced from many trees are often used. This results in variations in the grain and surface appearance of the boards. Purchasers, homeowners, consumers, likely, insist on uniformity in surface appearance, and producers are forced to spend significant amounts of time and energy selecting wood to produce the large volume of similarly grained and knotted wood boards. These factors combine to raise the prices for purchasers still further and complicate the task of manufacturers and producers.
An alternative approach has been developed in the disclosed embodiments where the outdoor wood decking board includes a wood core manufactured with a common grade wood species, or referred to a common grade or all general purpose grade wood species; the wood core is layered and bonded onto a first wood face of the wood core with a facing wood veneer formed from a superior grade wood species or a select grade wood species. In another embodiment, a second facing wood veneer formed from a high-grade wood species is layered upon an opposing second wood face of the wood core, the second facing wood veneer visible to a user from underneath the outdoor deck floor thereby forming a ceiling to the area beneath the outdoor deck floor.
The use of the veneer layers manufactured with superior grade wood species is a novel embodiment of outdoor wood decking boards with the purpose of preserving superior grade wood species and preventing excessive consumption of high grade woods in the manufacture of outdoor wood decking boards. In addition, the use of facing wood veneer layers with high grade or superior grade or select grade wood species provides an aesthetic look to the outdoor deck floor adding value to the outdoor deck floor and to the home attached thereof, whereas the outdoor wood decking boards are cost efficient because the core is manufactured from a less expensive wood species.
Superior grade outdoor deck floors typically require manufacturing each outdoor wood decking board for use in the construction of outdoor decks using an enormity of natural wood resources of high grade wood species so that each outdoor wood decking board is completely manufactured with a piece of superior grade wood species. A known problem to this approach is that the natural resources including a variety of high grade wood species are exposed to exhaustion of the wood species particular to a certain geographical region. In addition, this method is not cost prohibitive.
An additional problem of the conventional manufactured outdoor wood decking boards for use in the construction of outdoor deck floors is that the formed outdoor wood decking boards when manufactured with low grade outdoor wood decking boards are susceptible to the wood splintering or splitting or knots falling out causing the wood to widen over time and wear. Therefore, the implementation of the facing wood veneer seamlessly attached via the pressure sensitive liquid adhesive, or a two-part emulsion-polymer-isocyanate adhesive, or a two-part polyurethane emulsion polymer adhesive, prevents the problem of splintering and knots falling out and significant additional degradation of the outdoor wood decking boards. Therefore, the common grade outdoor wood decking boards must be treated with agents to prevent the splinters. The use of superior grade woods for the manufacture of the facing wood veneers eliminates the need to treat the low grade or common grade or all purpose grade wood cores with anti-splintering agents.
An advantage of the present invention is that the use of the facing wood veneer can increase the likelihood that a plurality of outdoor wood decking boards can be manufactured with a uniform grain and aesthetic appearance with a non-cactile surface characterized as being free of cracks, holes, cavities or knots, because a single tree of a first wood species, or a second wood species, or an exotic wood species, can be used to produce numerous amounts of uniform facing wood veneers than solid wood decking boards.
Thus, there is a need for an effective way to manufacture superior grade outdoor wood decking boards for use in the construction of outdoor deck floors without substantially threatening the natural resources of high grade wood species in a particular geographic area. In addition, there is a need for a way to effectively deal with high costs of manufacturing the high-grade wood cores necessary in the construction of the outdoor wood decking boards for use in construction of outdoor deck floors by minimizing the amount of high grade wood species expended in the process. Also, there is a need for an effective way to reduce splintering of low grade wood cores by increasing outdoor deck floor smoothness and aesthetics, while still maintaining low costs and durability of the outdoor wood decking boards for outdoor use in the construction of the outdoor deck floors.
Further still, there is a need for an improved method for adhering and laminating outdoor wood decking boards. More specifically, the invention relates to forming outdoor wood decking boards using a two-part emulsion-polymer-isocyanate adhesive; and a method thereof. In addition, the invention relates to forming outdoor wood decking boards using a two-part polyurethane emulsion polymer adhesive; and method thereof.